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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

EPA (and Bush) Don't "Blow" For Once

Tipped by the women at Garden Rant, the EPA has mandated a 35% reduction in emissions from personal landscape tools with gas engines (leaf blowers, weed eaters, lawn mowers), and other engines of boats and such under 25hp, by 2011. Here's an excerpt to show you just how WONDERFUL this is to our health (people and earth):

"The new regulations will take effect in 2010 and 2011. Once fully implemented, they will annually eliminate emissions totaling 600,000 tons of hydrocarbons, 130,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1.5 million tons of carbon monoxide. Both hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, which is linked to respiratory illnesses as well as premature deaths.

The EPA -- which concluded that it is "safe and feasible" to install catalytic converters in small engines -- estimates the rule's public health benefits will outweigh its costs by a ratio of at least 8 to 1, producing public health benefits valued at between $1.6 billion and $4.4 billion annually by 2030. The reduced emissions are estimated to prevent more than 300 premature deaths, 1,700 hospitalizations and 23,000 lost workdays each year.

Environmentalists, who noted that one riding lawn mower emits as much pollution in an hour as 34 cars, said the move would protect the environment and promote energy efficiency. Because spark-ignition engines release as much as 25 percent of their gas unburned in their exhaust, the EPA also estimates that the regulations, when fully implemented, will lead to a more efficient combustion process that will save about 190 million gallons of gasoline each year."

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